In Hondo

Last Thursday I was able to travel to Honduras for a few days of planning for the upcoming summer mission. It is always eye-opening to go back to the communities where we have worked and made friends. It is even more eye-opening to go to new places and find out that the place that you previously thought was the poorest possible –really wasn’t.

Last week we went to a place called Nuevo Oriental. Nuevo Oriental is on the road to Zamarano –about 10 km outside of Tegucigalpa. It is a fairly new piece of squatter land that the government has started parceling out to the very poorest of the poor. There are about 200 families in the community and more coming every day. If you have never seen a group of people with absolutely nothing, then you have never been to a place like Nuevo Oriental. It cannot be described………….

Planning and working with Tim & Joe was great. These men had the faith to leave the comforts of the USA for a land where many people would feel rich to have a chance to eat our left-over food….Even the food that we throw our every day would be a luxury in the eyes of the poor in Nuevo Oriental. I am blessed that God introduced me to both of these men and to their families too.

Terri has the current headcount for the July TORCH mission at 156. WOW! I should probably stop the number here but, I just can’t say no to someone that is willing to come with me to do the work that I love. We have big plans and a lot of work ahead. I believe that this team that I am working with will be amazing. I just keep praying that we will have the resources that we will need to do what God has planned for us to do. That is pretty silly – especially since our God doesn’t plan anything without providing the means to get it done.

One big project that I worked on this weekend was a land purchase for TORCH, Mi Esperanza, and the IRC. The land is in a community called Santa Anna. S.A. is really beautiful – really peaceful & calm. On Sunday morning we finally concluded that the land purchase was what we should do. We were in several different places on Sunday but, every where we were we (Tim, Joe, & I) were dreaming about the possibilities that could be realities with the land. A permanent clinic, a new church building for the community, a children’s home, houses for the poor, a park, fresh water for the community, a place for TORCH dorms, and much more.

The one thing that I have talked to all of the board about is the fact that this permanent purchase will mean that we will all be required to step it up to the next level. I am ready!